What really is being helpless? At 13000 feet, on the edge of the small aircraft door with your Skydive tandem instructor ready to push you off! There is no way out. You look out to the sky and your heartbeat keeps getting higher. The skydive cameraman in front of you jumps. You try to turn around to look back at the aircraft. However, before you can turn your face around, you are out. Out of the aircraft, falling right down. Yes, you have been pushed out. You have taken the dive.
Let’s take a breath here. Here because while you are falling freely, that’s the hardest thing to do. Oh, and yes that’s the only thing you can do!
I skydived yesterday — the Fourth of February, 2021. Two of us, me and my friend, had booked an early slot of 9 AM. It had been two weeks since we had seen fog. Fate had other plans. Early morning, after a difficult sleep, I woke up to dense fog. I kept my hopes high that this will clear by the time we jump out of the aircraft. I was so slow at my routine that I had to hurriedly drink my morning tea and the light banana plus cardamom milkshake. I reached just on time — 9.05 AM.
We had chosen the Palm skydive drop zone and paid a premium to witness the man-made marvel of Palm Jumeirah and the bird’s eye view of Dubai. Dubai fog is fascinating. You have negligible visibility, but for the residents of high towers, it is a scene right out of a fantasy movie. You will find yourself higher than the fog, with the big towers rising above the clouds. It is a mesmerizing scene. Go check out the Instagram handle of Dubai’s Crown Prince -https://www.instagram.com/faz3 - to relish the scenery I am talking about. Our plan was definitely not to see the fog. As I reached the dropzone, I saw even denser fog over the city. The skydive executives assured us that they won’t fly if fog persists and reschedule our dive.
Is there a way to measure anxiety? Yes. The more anxious you are, the more you pee. The never-ending hour-long wait excited my bladder and made me frequent the toilet stool. I was dazed out over-thinking. I kept to myself — “I am excited, I am thrilled, I am going to enjoy it”. In reality, I was scared. My name was called out when I was in one of my toilet visits.
As the aircraft flew off, I saw “scared smiles” on every diver’s face. It is one thing to book a slot to jump and another to be on the real aircraft taking you to your spot at 13000 feet to jump. I lost my ability to think when they opened the hatch. There was nothing more I could do. I was third in line. With each dive, my heartbeat skipped a beat. I went to the door when told and within microseconds was out in the sky, diving at 200 kmph! They don’t give you time to second guess the decision.
You want to see a scared and helpless person. Check the photograph of me jumping from the aircraft. The first 5 seconds are scary. Post that is when you normalise and put in an effort to enjoy. I did the customary photo poses during the free fall. The one person who seems to enjoy the most is the skydiver with the camera. The moment when my instructor gave the signal to open the parachute, I must have been the happiest man on the planet!
To try to put the experience into words — it was thrilling, exhilarating, scary, and fun. I would do it again. And again.
